Jihadists take holiday cruises to warzones following intl. screening step-up

ISIS is showing new ingenuity in ferrying fighters into Syria and Iraq untraced, after Turkey stepped up its own efforts at border check-ups. Terrorists are now reportedly taking cruise ships to the warzones, Interpol told the AP.

The problem of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) bulking up
and recruiting en masse has been one of the greatest obstacles to
eradicating the group. For a while now the world didn’t have a
proper mechanism to stem the flow of fighters to the IS’ new
heartland.

The recent airstrike campaign by the US has hardly put a dent in
the movement of fighters making their way to Syria, which
“remains constant, so the overall number continues to
rise,” according to a US intelligence official.

"But as we've gathered data, we've realized that there are
more and more reports that people are using cruise ships in order
to get to launch pads, if you will — sort of closer to the
conflict zones — of Syria and Iraq."

Catching the terrorists on water has proven more difficult. The
mode of transportation allows would-be fighters to confuse their
trail by getting on and disembarking at ports of their choosing.

However, Interpol thinks it has a solution. With Turkey no longer
a viable option (although the country was never truly
instrumental in curtailing cross-border movements), the
international policy body is reaching out to airlines.

Changes to travel routes have only been registered over the last
three months. But it’s not known at this time how big a flow of
militants is utilizing new ones.

According to Noble, “airports and, more and more, cruise
lines” will receive support from the program. This will lead
to stepped up security across all transportation hubs. Speaking
to reporters in Monaco, Noble confirmed that Turkey was a
high-priority destination, but declined to name others.

The NATO member previously sustained a flurry of international
criticism for its porous borders – not to mention allegations of
deliberately allowing terrorist movement into Syria for the
purpose of weakening President Bashar Assad’s hold on his
country.

The Turkish government had promised to take care of airports and
bus stations for its part, and claims to have already deported
hundreds of suspected IS recruits. According to Interpol’s
director of counterterrorism, Pierre St. Hilaire, it’s those
successes that have led to militants finding alternate routes.

"Because they know the airports are monitored more closely
now, there's a use of cruise ships to travel to those
areas," St. Hilaire said on Thursday. "There is evidence
that the individuals, especially in Europe, are traveling mostly
to Izmit and other places to engage in this type of
activity."

St. Hilaire made clear that more methods of transportation will
be used in future, and that Europe is neither the only, nor the
main source of the flow of fighters. China apparently is
responsible for some 300.

"It's a global threat — 15,000 fighters or more from 81
countries traveling to one specific conflict zone... In order to
prevent their travel and identify them, there needs to be greater
information-sharing among the region, among national security
agencies."